Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2016
Publication Title
Environmental Epigenetics
Volume
2016
Issue
1-5
Abstract
Epigenetic mechanisms may be important for a native species’ response to rapid environmental change. Red Imported Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta Santschi, 1916) were recently introduced to areas occupied by the Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus Bosc & Daudin, 1801). Behavioral, morphological and physiological phenotypes of the Eastern Fence Lizard have changed following invasion, creating a natural biological system to investigate environmentally induced epigenetic changes.We tested for variation in DNA methylation patterns in Eastern Fence Lizard populations associated with different histories of invasion by Red Imported Fire Ants. At methylation sensitive amplified fragment length polymorphism loci, we detected a higher diversity of methylation in Eastern Fence Lizard populations from Fire Ant uninvaded versus invaded sites, and uninvaded sites had higher methylation. Our results suggest that invasive species may alter methylation frequencies and the pattern of methylation among native individuals. While our data indicate a high level of intrinsic variability in DNA methylation, DNA methylation at some genomic loci may underlie observed phenotypic changes in Eastern Fence Lizard populations in response to invasion of Red Imported Fire Ants. This process may be important in facilitating adaptation of native species to novel pressures imposed by a rapidly changing environment.
Recommended Citation
Aaron W. Schrey, Travis R. Robbins, Jacob Lee, David W. Dukes, Jr, Alexandria K. Ragsdale, Christopher J. Thawley, Tracy Langkilde, Epigenetic response to environmental change: DNA methylation varies with invasion status, Environmental Epigenetics, Volume 2, Issue 2, April 2016, dvw008, https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvw008
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Comments
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. This article may also be found here: https://academic.oup.com/eep/article/2/2/dvw008/2841051 or here https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvw008.